- Superman trailer has arrived, featuring our first look at the new film
- Second teaser shows David Corenswet’s Supes flying
- James Gunn says Top Gun: Maverick inspired his take on the character
Is it a plane? Is it a train? No, it’s James Gunn’s new Man of Steel – and the very first Superman trailer is finally here.
Gunn’s take will be a reboot and exist separately from every incarnation of the character that’s come before. It was announced as part of a larger overhaul of DC’s superhero offering in late 2022.
Together with producing partner Peter Safran, the pair were installed as co-CEOs of DC’s new cinematic universe, now known as the DCU. They set a new slate of projects featuring the brand’s roster of iconic characters, each helmed by new filmmakers.
Read more: Who is the new Superman actor David Corenswet?
New takes on Batman and Green Lantern were revealed as part of the duo’s first “chapter” Gods and Monsters. This aims to link up the various arms of DC’s properties.
Meanwhile, stand-alone projects like Matt Reeves’ The Batman featuring Robert Pattinson and Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker will exist in an area known as DC Elseworlds. Their stories will stand apart from Gunn’s future DCU plans.
Still with us? Good – because Gunn and Safran have been hard at work bringing the comic company’s main man back to screens – and he’s nearly here.
With that in mind, here’s what we know about Gunn’s Superman movie so far…
When is James Gunn’s Superman released?
Gunn’s new Superman movie will hit cinemas across America on 11 July 2025. It will also be available in IMAX.
The film will form the first instalment of Gunn and Safran’s first DCU chapter, Gods and Monsters.
Production for the movie began in early 2024 on 29 February. That date is technically Superman’s birthday in DC lore. The film had the working title of Superman: Legacy although this was streamlined to Superman during the first few weeks of production.
Despite wrapping production earlier this year, Gunn confirmed via Threads that the movie will head back in front of cameras to “enhance the film.”
“Sort of. Not a few days [of additional shooting]. We’re doing a day and a half of pickup shots,” said Gunn, responding to a question on Threads. “No scenes. No reshoots. Just a handful of individual shots to enhance the film.”
Is there a trailer for James Gunn’s Superman movie?
The Superman trailer dropped on 19 December 2024 and gave us our best look yet at the new DC world Gunn is building. Watch it above.
However, when we first see Corenswet’s Man of Steel, he’s seen better days. Battered and bruised in a snowy landscape, he’s forced to call on his loyal Kryptonian pooch Krypto for help.
Elsewhere, we also get our first real glimpses of Rachel Brosnahan’s Lois Lane and Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luthor. Blink-and-you’ll-miss-them snippets of Nathan Fillon’s Green Lantern Guy Gardner and Edi Gathegi’s Mister Terrific are also showcased.
Shortly afterwards, a slightly different teaser made its way online in late January 2025, this time showing Gunn’s new Superman in mid-flight.
Before these arrived, we knew that the Superman trailer would land on Thursday 19 December 2024. The news was confirmed by Gunn who posted a short teaser clip to his social media accounts on 16 December.
#Superman #trailer Thursday. pic.twitter.com/6NKS0DencA
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) December 16, 2024
The clip showed snippets of a metal Superman logo which many have assumed to be our first look at Superman’s hide-out, the Fortress of Solitude.
Shortly afterwards, Gunn posted a new post which teased snippets of the trailer.
… and the countdown begins. The @Superman teaser trailer launches TOMORROW!https://t.co/RoSyXK8APS pic.twitter.com/lGTrRaj83d
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) December 18, 2024
The tease showed Brosnahan’s Lois Lane alongside members of the public looking in awe at Corenswet’s Superman. Speaking of which, the teaser also revealed brief glimpses at Supes flying through the air.
What is the plot of James Gunn’s Superman?
When it comes to the plot of Gunn’s upcoming Superman film, we don’t have too much to go on. However, according to the film’s official synopsis, it sounds like we’re in for a coming-of-age story that’ll show us how the Last Son of Krypton becomes the hero we all know and love.
According to the film’s longline, “Superman embarks on a journey to reconcile his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing as Clark Kent.”
More details were revealed alongside the film’s first poster.
According to a Warner Bros. press release, “In his signature style, James Gunn takes on the original superhero in the newly imagined DC universe with a singular blend of epic action, humor and heart, delivering a Superman who’s driven by compassion and an inherent belief in the goodness of humankind. ”
In an interview with Gizmodo, Gunn revealed that his film will start in the middle of the action. “We just start in the middle of the action,” Gunn told the outlet.
“Superman already exists. Lois and Clark already know each other. Lex hates Superman’s guts from the beginning, although they don’t know each other personally. So we start right in the middle of the action.”
His movie will then reportedly take place in “a short amount of time.”
What else do we know?
We also know that the movie will take inspiration from the popular storyline depicted in Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly’s All-Star Superman comic book arc, which was released between 2005 and 2008.
This involved Superman being given one year left to live after his solar-powered blood cells were damaged whilst stopping some villains too close to the sun. As it stands, it’s unclear how closely Gunn’s story will stick to this narrative.
Elsewhere, we know that the film will feature an appearance from Superman/Clark Kent’s dog Krypto, as revealed in an X post by Gunn in October 2024.
Intriguingly, Gunn has described the powered-up-pooch as a “not-so-good good boy.” During a chat with MovieZine in November 2024, Gunn briefly discussed the tone of his new Superman movie, teasing that it will be “serious” but also “family friendly.”
“Everything’s going to be totally different,” said Gunn about the wider DC Universe that he and Safran are building.
“One of the things I love about DC Comics is that they’ve always been able to tell different stories in different ways,” he explained.
“We have something that’s relatively serious like Superman and then something that’s relatively comedic like Peacemaker all in the same universe. [Or] something very adult, like Peacemaker [and] something pretty family-friendly like Superman.”
Gunn has also revealed how Tom Cruise’s 2022 sequel Top Gun: Maverick inspired the way his Superman flies. “We took a lot from films like Top Gun: Maverick,” explained Gunn.
“We shoot a lot of our action with actual drones flying in and around Superman and the people that he’s flying with, The Engineer and whoever else that he’s fighting up in the air. And we did that on sound stages. We got these really small, crazy drones now. We’ve got some of the best flyers in the world here who are working with it.”
Who is in James Gunn’s Superman?
Relative newcomer David Corenswet will don the iconic red and blue tights to play Superman before hiding behind some regular old specs to portray mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent.
Speaking of tights, according to Gunn, it was Corenswet who convinced the director to include Superman’s iconic red pants.
Corenswet’s argument? They’ll help younger audiences warm to a super-strong space alien. “He dresses like a professional wrestler,” added Gunn. “He dresses in a way that makes people unafraid of him, that shows that hope that shows that positivity. And that really clicked in for me.”
Read more: James Gunn’s Superman cast explained
While promoting DC’s new series Creature Commandos in December 2024, Gunn said that Corenswet’s performance will “freak everyone out”
“Honestly, from the bottom of my heart, David Corenswet is going to freak everyone out with how great he is,” Gunn told The Hollywood Reporter. “He is one of the best actors I’ve ever worked with, and he can do everything. The man is incredible.”
We got our first look at the star all suited up back in May 2024.
Acting opposite Corenswet is The Marvelous Ms Mavel’s Rachel Brosnahan as the Daily Planet’s crack reporter Lois Lane. Meanwhile, Mad Max: Fury Road star Nicholas Hoult rounds out the main cast as the evil Lex Luthor.
Together, the trio will be joined by an ensemble that includes Wendell Pierce as Daily Planet editor Perry White, Licorice Pizza’s Skyler Gisondo as photographer Jimmy Olsen and Sara Sampaio as Lex Luthor’s love interest Eve Teschmacher.
The film will also include an appearance from The Authority, a superhero group consisting of María Gabriela de Faría’s Angela Spica AKA The Engineer and other yet-to-be-confirmed stars.
We know that Gunn’s film will feature more supes than its primary Kryptonian hero too.
Nathan Fillon will play a Green Lantern known as Guy Gardner, with Edi Gathegi playing Mister Terrific/Michael How, Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl and Anthony Carrigan as Rex Mason AKA Metamorpho.
Meanwhile, Neve Howell and Pruitt Taylor Vince will play Ma and Pa Kent respectively.
